Disclosed herein is a hybrid toner composition comprising a first wax; a second wax that is different from the first wax; wherein the first wax comprises a paraffin wax having a peak melting point of from about 60 to about 80° C.; wherein the second wax comprises an ester wax having a peak melting point of from about 60 to about 80° C.; a first resin comprising an amorphous polyester resin and a second resin comprising at least one of a styrene resin, an acrylate resin, a styrene-acrylate resin, or a combination thereof; and an optional colorant.
Reduced cost hybrid toner compositions are desired. Hybrid toners having some of the polyester replaced by a styrene/acrylate latex have been proposed for cost reduction. Such toners may be comprised of a core prepared with a polyester amorphous latex, polyester crystalline latex, styrene-acrylate polymer latex, or a combination thereof and may have a shell prepared with a styrene-acrylate polymer latex. A benefit of such a toner is overall reduced cost. However, crystalline polyester resin is expensive due to the raw materials costs and processing costs. Further reduced cost toner having sufficient print characteristics is desired.
U. S. Patent Publication 2017/0010553, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety, describes in the Abstract thereof, toner compositions with toner particles having a core-shell type structure, wherein the core comprises a first resin comprising a styrene-acrylate copolymer and an amorphous polyester resin, and the shell comprises a second resin comprising beta-carboxyethyl acrylate in an amount of from about 0.05 pph to about 2.5 pph by weight of the second resin.
U. S. Patent Publication 2017/0010554, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety, describes in the Abstract thereof, processes of preparing hybrid toner compositions with toner particles having a core-shell type structure, where the shell contains a non-volatile coalescent agent. More particularly, embodiments relate to processes of preparing styrene-acrylate hybrid toner compositions.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/187,475, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety, describes in the Abstract thereof a hybrid toner including a core having at least one amorphous polyester resin and at least one crystalline polyester resin, and at least one styrene/acrylate resin, a shell comprising at least one styrene/acrylate resin, at least one wax, and optionally a pigment dispersion, wherein the first modulated differential calorimetry scan (DSC) of the hybrid toner shows at least two melting point peaks below about 80° C., and the difference between the two melting point peaks is less than or equal to about 15° C. In embodiments, the toner is a hybrid styrene-acrylate polyester toner with crystalline polyester where both wax and crystalline polyester have melting points less than 80° C. and where the toner has two melting peaks in the DSC that are separated by less than 15° C. In embodiments, the wax is a paraffin wax or a polymethylene/polyethylene wax.
U.S. Pat. No. 9,383,666, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety, describes in the Abstract thereof toners and processes useful in providing toners suitable for electrophotographic apparatuses, including apparatuses such as digital, image-on-image, and similar apparatuses. In particular, emulsion aggregation toners are described that comprise toner particles having a core composed of either polyester resin or both styrene-acrylate and polyester resins. These embodiments also comprise a shell disposed over the core, wherein the shell comprises styrene-acrylate resin.
U.S. Pat. No. 9,341,968, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety, describes in the Abstract thereof a toner composition comprising toner particles with a core and a shell, wherein the core comprises a polyester polymer and a styrene acrylate polymer, and the shell comprises a polyester polymer and, optionally, a styrene acrylate polymer, either or both of which can be the same or different from that in the core.
U.S. Pat. No. 9,128,395, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety, describes in the Abstract thereof toners and processes useful in providing toners suitable for electrophotographic apparatuses, including apparatuses such as digital, image-on-image, and similar apparatuses. In particular, emulsion aggregation toner compositions are described that use two different emulsion aggregation (EA) technologies and which comprise a base resin composed of both styrene-acrylate and polyester resins. These toner compositions further include polyaluminum chloride (PAC) instead of the more commonly used aluminum sulfate as the flocculant or aggregating agent.
U.S. Pat. No. 9,046,801, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety, describes in the Abstract thereof emulsion aggregation toner compositions that use two different emulsion aggregation (EA) technologies. Namely, there is provided an emulsion aggregation toner that comprises a base resin composed of both styrene-acrylate and polyester resins. Such hybrid emulsion aggregation toner compositions are lower in cost but still maintain desirable developer properties like low minimum fusing temperature (MFT) and lower dielectric loss.
Currently available toner compositions are suitable for their intended purposes. However a need remains for improved toner compositions. Further, a need remains for lower cost toner compositions. Further, a need remains for lower cost toner compositions that can perform as well as toners containing more expensive components such as crystalline polyester which can be prepared at the cost of less expensive components such as styrene-acrylate resins.
The appropriate components and process aspects of the each of the foregoing U. S. Patents and Patent Publications may be selected for the present disclosure in embodiments thereof. Further, throughout this application, various publications, patents, and published patent applications are referred to by an identifying citation. The disclosures of the publications, patents, and published patent applications referenced in this application are hereby incorporated by reference into the present disclosure to more fully describe the state of the art to which this invention pertains.